Sixty four!

Exactly one month to the day since the oldest four girls in our family gathered in the city to support each other through Farmdoc's open heart surgery, we came together once again. This time Abby came all the way across the seas to join us too.

And this time we came together to celebrate.

We sang Happy Birthday.

We danced to the obvious Beatles song.

We drank coffee.

We ate a big lunch and a little cake.

We reminisced.

We spent time together with no husbands, or boyfriends, or children, or pets.

We talked through issues and told stories.

We cried at his speech and laughed at hers.

What a day!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I hope you had a great day.

xx

ps. Bloody Blogger just swallowed this post when I tried to publish it the first time. I think it was better the first time too.

pps. Thanks heaps for all the answers to my last post. You guys are awesome.

ppps. Imagine how much fun it'll be when you turn 64 and get to spend the day with your adult children. Now that'll be a great day too I think.

pppps. I'm on officially on Pinterest now as Foxslane.

Heart times in the city!

I really wanted to call this post No sex in the city but one of my sisters thought it would be bad for her reputation. Ahem.

And while there isn't that, there is a whole lot of other stuff. Drama stuff. You know all that stuff that happens when you are living through big life events? New babies, death, trauma, new love, weddings, surgery...big life stuff.

It's like you are living inside a bubble and nothing else matters. You know that life is going on around you but you don't care, it doesn't interest you, there's no more room in your head to deal with it.

The people in the bubble with you are living the highs and lows too. They get it. But for everyone else it's difficult. It's like its ok when they are talking about your stuff, but then when they start telling you about their cousin's new job or their great theatre tickets, your eyes glaze over. It's like there's no room left for other stuff.

It's almost like we should have a sign on us that reads: Our Dad is recovering from open heart surgery. Please be nice to us. Please excuse us.

One morning we went to visit my Dad in intensive care and he was so happy to be on the other side of the surgery. He was chatty and ready for rehab and the rest of his life. He asked me to knit his nurse's three year old son a jumper and bring it in the next day!

We practically skipped all the way home. We visited a department store on the way and bought handbags for us and fancy chocolates to thank the ICU staff.

Another visit he was exhausted, he couldn't breathe deeply and could barely speak to us. At home we discussed him and we cried. We went to an action movie to take our minds off it.

Before hand we had discussed how he would walk on Wednesday and he did. He moved downstairs to the ward, he sat in a chair by his window and looked out over autumnal Melbourne, at an oval he used to jog around when he was a med student.

We were sure he was home free. His quadruple bypass was in the past and we could talk about which day he would be released. We went out and had a delicious dinner and fancy cocktails. I slept for about six hours despite the crazy inner city noises.

And then this morning we learned that his heart beat had shot right up over night and unable to control it with medication, they had shifted him back to the ICU.

He's in the best place he could possibly be. He knows we all adore him.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Life!

PS. Abby we miss you like crazy. In June we'll take these pics again with you in them.

PPS. If you haven't entered my giveaway, you totally should. Who doesn't need an I love craft t in their life? Leave a comment on this post.

PPPS. You'll have to excuse any misplaced commas or typos for the next little while, my Dad is my editor.

PPPPS. I've said it before and I'll say it again, THANK YOU for your comments, calls, emails, texts and love. Trust me, its making this so much easier for all of us.

PPPPPS. Thanks for returning my post blogger. I am most disappointed you didn't bring back the comments too.

My place and yours - Blog H.Q.

My blog H.Q. is at the kitchen/dining room table, down the far end away from sticky fingers. The computer used to be down the other end of the house in the study, but I found I would only check on it every few days. Now it is in the 'cockpit' of the house that isn't a problem any more.

There's my current pot holder in progress. There's usually another one underneath my laptop as that is my way of blocking them. Can get a bit wobbly when typing though.

There are always school notices and bits and pieces around, but this morning there's also the Saturday morning garage sale treasures.

A box full of tea spoons from a deceased estate for my sister Emily who collects them.

They are pretty beautiful to look at and imagine someone's great adventures travelling around Australia collecting them from places they visited. They are all made in Australia too.

These four are my favourites. From left Deloraine is near where my parents live, Castlemaine & Malden is the closest I could find to here, I love Strahan's dangly anchor and Burnie's apple.

Some lovely old linen.

And a tin of buttons.

When I walked down the hill to this garage sale a woman called out that she'd wondered if I would turn up as there'd been another blogger who'd already been earlier, but these were perfect for me. Bren loved this story. He said my blogutation had preceded me.

I have no idea if these buttons are old or precious but they are already being picked over and threaded and glued onto cards and presents for my birthday in a few days time. It looks like these buttons came just in time as I have a handmade cards and presents only rule this year.

Thanks Ninon for this week's theme and to Pip for hosting the big list.